GGRAsia – Sands China partners with Kakao Pay to lure S.Korean visitors

Sands China partners with Kakao Pay to lure S.Korean visitors

Sep 25, 2023 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

Macau casino operator Sands China Ltd has announced a cooperation with Kakao Pay, one of South Korea’s most popular mobile payment and digital wallet services, and cashless payment provider Macau Pass SA, “to facilitate ease of cross-border mobile payment” for South Korean travellers visiting the firm’s properties.

“A large-scale promotional campaign, running until September 30, has been launched for Kakao Pay users visiting Macau,” said Sands China in a Monday press release. “It coincides with Korea’s Chuseok festival, an annual holiday when the majority of Koreans travel,” it added.

First launched in 2014, Kakao Pay is widely used in South Korea and is currently available in almost 50 countries, allowing users to pay with a smartphone, according to the release.

The casino firm stated that this collaboration “should help attract more visitors from this important source market [South Korea].”

Sands China runs a number of Cotai resorts, including the Venetian Macao, the Parisian Macao, and the Londoner Macao (pictured). It also operates casino hotel Sands Macao on the peninsula.

The Macau government has a stated policy aim of encouraging its casino concessionaires to draw more of their customers from markets beyond China.

As part of the Macau government’s tender process for new 10-year gaming concessions, bidders were asked to create plans and pledge investment on a number of issues, including bringing in more customers from overseas.

Monday’s statement cited Dean Zhao, Sands China’s senior vice president for e-commerce, as saying: “Korea is one of the top inbound tourism countries and the Venetian Macao and the Parisian Macao have long been favoured by Korean guests, who are also drawn to our latest integrated resort, the Londoner Macao.”

He added: “This meaningful cooperation with Kakao Pay and Macau Pass is aligned with our philosophy to continually seek solutions that enhance the customer experience, including the use of familiar technology from their home market.”

Shin Won-geun, chief executive of Kakao Pay, said in prepared remarks that the collaboration with Sands China would help the firm “maintain” its “competitive edge,” as it would allow its users “to use Kakao Pay payment conveniently and enjoy various benefits when travelling” to Macau.

In Macau, the system will be supported by Macau Pass. In the release, the firm’s chairman and CEO, Sun Ho, was quoted saying that this kind of collaboration “helps to create a connected international digital payment ecosystem for Macau, by solving the problem of cross-border payment for international tourists, thus helping enterprises find new marketing growth opportunities.”